Allan Ssekamatte and Yasser Kalyango
8 September 2008
Kampala — They say hope sustains the world, and this adage today rings truest for the Cranes. The Cranes can and must gather themselves from the despair of losing 1-3 to soccer minnows Niger in a 2010 World Cup/African Nations Cup qualifier in Niamey yesterday, and focus on the positives of this campaign.
David Obua put the Cranes ahead after 33 minutes but two second half goals from Al Hassan Yousuf (68, 85) and another from Daouda Jamil condemned the Cranes to defeat.
Benin win group
Razak Omoyotosi helped himself to a brace after Adenon had opened the scoring, with Flavio Amado and Loco replying for the Black Antelopes.
Uganda's loss was assuaged by Angola's 2-3 loss to Benin, which meant the Squirrels finished as group winners and put Bobby Williamson's Cranes into pole position in the race for second spot.
According to new Fifa rules: "For teams in groups of four, a new classification will be made for teams ranked second and will be taken into account only their results with teams ranked first and third in their respective groups (total 4 matches). Results of matches with the team ranked fourth will not be taken into consideration."
If Group 3 results against bottom-placed Niger are to be nullified, it would imply that the Cranes are currently on four points along with Angola but have a chance to increase their tally in the October 12 game against Benin but Angola cannot improve on their four-point tally as they play Niger the same day.
The importance of winning the final qualifier on October 12 is underlined by the ranking system which will then choose the eight best-placed second teams on the basis of their number of points, goal difference and the number of goals.
STANDINGS
P W D L F A PT
Benin 5 4 0 1 11 6 12
Uganda 5 2 1 2 7 8 7
Angola 5 2 1 2 8 7 7
Niger 5 1 0 4 4 8 3
RESULTS
Niger 3-1 Uganda
Benin 3-2 Angola
OCTOBER 12
Uganda v Benin
Angola v Niger
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